Chair cushion



April 1, 1930. B. B. FELIX 1,752,295

' CHAIR CUSHION Filed Deo. 14, 192e BY www.

ATTORNEYS 'l Patented Apr.` 1, 1930 'l UNITED STATES "PATENT calificaLBENJAMIN B. FELIX, OIE CHICAGO, lI1'.I.`.II\lOIS ASSIGNORflO FEATHEREDGERUBBER COMPANY, IN C., A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS cnam cUsHroN-Application lc'd'December 14, 192.@ Serial No. 154,684.

Chair cushions are now in general use made up of sponge rubber` with onesurface covered with fibrous material such as felt, woven fab-A ric,vreal or imitation leather (all of which are intended to be embracedwithin the term fabric as hereafter used). Such cushions 1 are sometimescriticized as being unpleasant the rubber in contact with the fabric.

in hot weather. This can be obviated by -perforating the cushion, but ifholes are punched in the combined materials, the-edges areapt to beraggedQand it is also dificult to apply a cover in which holes have beenpunched in exact registry with a rubber cushion in which holes have beenformed.

in accordance with the present invention, the cushion is formed bymolding the cover and body of the cushion together and curifng I a moldis used having pins in it to formthe perforations in the tnal cushionand the cloth is perforated so that it will readily slip down over thepins, there will bea tendency for the sponge rubber to force itsWaybetween the pin and the edge 'of the cloth and rubber will show onthe surface of the finished product. This l objection can4 be overcomeand a cushion of very attractive appearance can be i made by formingholes in the fabric cover slightly smaller than the pins, thenstretching the holes over the pins, Ordinarily it will be found moresatisfactory to form the holes in the sheetof compound also-but this isnot always necessary. During thecuring of the sponge rubber compound thepressure generated will force the fabric down over the pins,

but the friction of the fabric against the pin will tend to keep theedge of the fabric adj acent each opening, from reaching the bottom ofthe mold, with the result that the fabric* will be slightly turned in-atthe edge of each hole. The perforations in the fabric may be round orthey may be formed in other ways, as for example, simply by making twocrossing slits in the fabric, but in any event the holes should be madein such a way that when the cushion is finished a portion of the fabriccovering will be turned into the hole.

rfhe desired effect can be increased and an appearance given to thecushion that 'somewhat resembles tufting, if the pinsare made to taperall the way from their base to the top. rBy adjusting the amount oftaper in y relation to the size of the holes and nature of the :fabricthe extent to which the fabric will' extend into the finalopening 'canbe modified to a very considerable extent.

ln order to illustrate the manner in which a cushion of the typedescribed can be produced, I attach hereto a drawing showing a cushioninthe course of manufacture. The method of producing a cushion heredescribed is such that the invention described and claimed in Hood '&Wedlock Patent No.

1,610,286, dated December 1 4, 1926, will likewise be utilized.

In the drawings, Fig. l shows a sectional y' view through a portion of amoldfwith the materials that make up the cushion in place prior to theVulcanization F ig. 2 is a sectional view through a fragment of afinished cushion embodying my invention; Fig. 3 is a sectional View of amodi-fied for-m of mold.

For the purposes of illustration, the mold here illustrated is the onefor producing the preferred form of cushion, that is, where taperingpins are used. It is to be understood, as has already been pointed out,that this is not essential to the broader phases of the ing'- vention.

The mold here shown hasa lowenpart 2 with a cavity formed in its uppersurface and has a at'upper part 3. Fixed in the lower part 2 are aseries of pins 4 which in the present embodiment taper upward. Incarrying out the manufacture of a chair cushion a sheet of stockproperly compounded so that sponge rubber-will result after curing iscut to a size and shape approximating the mold cavity in part 2 butslightly larger. One surface of this compound is then `cleaned with acleaning materialv such as kerosene anda piece of fabric is cut toapproximately the same size and shape, laid over the rubber compound and'pressed down to makeit adhere smoothly to the compound. Holes are thenpunched through the compound and fabric in a position correspondingtothe position of the pins 4 but the diameter of these holes is less thanthe diameter of the base of the pins 4.' The sheet of rubber compoundand the fabric is then placed in the mold so that the tips of the pinspass through the holes which have been cut 1n thefabric and compoundsheet.

The edges of lthe compound'sheet and fabric pressure stretchesthe fabricslightl around the pins, turning the edge of the fabric up vinclosee'ontactwith the pins so that no rubber flows between the pin andthe fabric to appear on the surface of the finished cushion. At the sametime (depending in de' gree upon the taper given to the pin) the fabricimmediately adjacent the-base of the pin will beT/held awayfrom the baseof the -mold 'so that the cushion will have a tufted appearance as isclearly illustrated in Fig. 2.

In (Fig. 3 I Ashow a modified form of mold. Here the lower mold 3 isformed with raised bosses 7 through which extend u the pins 4. lThesepins ay be mounted in aiottom plate 8 'and may either be made so thatthe may be readily withdrawn to clean the mo d etc. or may be made tofit permanentlyin place.

A In this modification the fabric 5 and compound 6 have formedin themholes slightly larger than the pins 4 but in thisca'se the@ raisedbosses 7 will function like enlarged bases for the pins vand thepressureof the expanding compound will hold the edge portionsl of thefabric stretched and pressed against these bosses so that the resultingproduct will have portions of the fabric turned in about edge portionsof the perforations and-will have these edge portions of the fabricembedded in the" rubber. Thus it does not vary the broadc'idea of thisinvention if the parts which form the perforations are pins alone orpins which combine with bosses formed in the bottoml of themold, bothof. which are embracedwi-thin the term'fprojections. It is -tobeunderstood that the molds which are shown in the illustrations aregiven only as examples-and that many variations may be made in the'method ofmanufacture withwhich the fabric around the perforations isstretched and heldin stretched position by its adhesion to the rubber.

3. A product as defined in claim 1 in which the fabric is stretchedbetween adjacent perforations to give a roundedcross sectional linebetween adjacent perforations, and the rubber body is likewise shapedaccordingly.v

4. A product as defined in claim 1 in which the perforations tapertoward the lower side .75 of the cushion and the surface of the fabric Yy on any vertical section forms a smooth curved line continuation of theline of the side of each perforation. l

-5. The method of producing perforated cushions which comprises thesteps Aof forming openings in a piece of fabric, putting such openings aout upwardly exten ing p'rojecv` tions in the mold, said openings andsaid prol .jections being so related that the fabric between'adjacentprojections must be deiiected and stretched to reach the lowestparts of the mold, putting a sheet of sponge rubber compound in themold' so that it is over the fabric, lclosing the mold and vulcanizing,whereby 'the expansion of the lcompound forces the fabric against' themold between the projections and leaves edge portions ofv the fabricturned about the perfor-ations formed by said projections and vembeddedin vthe rubber. f

' 6. A process as defined in claim 5 in which the projections are -p'insand the bottom of ifslhe mold between the pins is substantially at.

7. A process as defined in claim 5 in which the projections are/ taperedpins and the` openings are formed in" the fabric of such 'a size thatthe edges of the fabric about the pins will be held a'substantialdistance from the baom ofthe mold. 105

8; A process as defined in claim 5, in which the',fabric and sheetqf'com ound are put* togetherand Both perforated) before being putinthemold. H6 -BEIQZAMI'Nl B. FELIX.

out. departing from the -spiritvof the inven-i tion.

What-I claim is: 1. As a new product, a cushion com rising s pongerubber with a fabric cover or the npper face integrally unitedto therubber by4 vulcanization, said cushion having perforau 60- tionsextending through the rubber and the fr l `fabric and having edgeportions of the fabric f turned down. around bdge--portions oftheperforations and having the edges of the fabric embedded in the s ongerubber body. n 2.A product-as efined inclau'i 1, .1n

